hi friends! i still lurk around the boards once in a while, but it's been too long since i've posted here! i need your help.

on the ppk we are quite familiar with garlic for yeast infections...but sometimes garlic just doesn't cut it for me. i found a new product by new roots called Femina Flora, which is a probiotic vaginal suppository that you put in overnight. the bottle has 10 capsules so you have to use it for 10 days to treat a yeast infection. it costs about the same ( around $25 CDN) as the canesten oral pill, so i thought i'd try it, since it claims to "prevent" future infections by restoring the balance of good bacteria in the vagina.

i am currently into my third day using it, but still experiencing a lot of discomfort/burning/swelling of my vulva. i've noticed it causes a lot of discharge in the morning when i'm first up and walking around (the capsule essentially melts inside you) has anyone else used it? thoughts? advice? i want to use garlic as well, during the day, but i am worried it will just destroy whatever good the probiotic has done.

initially i was put off by the idea of having to use it for 10 days, because i interpreted it as my yeast infection not healing for 10 days, whereas the canesten oral pill could kill it in two days. (for the record, i tried garlic for 2 days but it wasn't working). but i wanted to try this since it made sense to put the medicine where i was sick.

i need any yeastie advice i can get, please! what is good for swelling/burning? i'm not eating sugars, i've been icing my vulva...OKAY TMI SORRY

Sorry, my advice is to go back to the doctor and try to find the root cause.

When I've had yeast infections go untreated or poorly treated, I just end up with more infections or various kinds until I end up on serious heavy duty meds.

Is it possible that you have some other low level infection somewhere else? Almost all of my yeast infections seemed to coincide with bladder or fungal infections (I'm not really prone to them otherwise, so this could just be me).

Yeast infections are the devil. Feel better soon.

_________________"This is the creepiest post ever if you don't know who Molly is." -Fee"a vegan death match sounds like something where we all end up hugging." -LisaPunk

the doctor suggested i take vaginal probiotics because to take pills orally would be taking them in the ~wrong place (though, the oral canesten pill has always worked for me... haha...hmm). i'm not too sure what's going on, i've been to three different doctors in the past 6 months, tested for everything, and it's all coming back negative. they've prescribed me this and that, regular canesten, even the 7-day diflucan pills. i was doing really well for a while - i was sort of...scooping out any regular discharge morning and night, with a q-tip, and i kept an infection off for a whole month (longest i've gone without an infection since january).

however, a test came back that i have some abnormal cells, which i am going to the hospital for in february, so they can take pictures of the nuclei to make sure everything's okay. but the doctor told me the yeast was unrelated, since the cell issue would be in the nucleus of the cell itself. she said that i could be recontaminating myself with unbleached underwear or having washed it in a cold or warm cycle as opposed to hot.

thanks for the advice, i am really frustrated. but i've learned my lesson - just take some damn diflucan, who cares if it destroys my liver, i want to be healthy now because who knows how long i will live!

Sorry, I should have clarified--you can insert an acidophelus capsule vaginally. My midwife friend suggested it, so I feel like it's pretty legit. And a hell of a lot cheaper!

Another possibility, if you are having PIV sex without a condom is that your partner could be asymptomatically infected and passing it back to you every time you kick it.

I went through a period of a few months where my immune system was suppressed and I had recently finished a course of hardcore antibiotics. Without fail I would get a yeast infection right after my period. It seemed like my diva cup was somehow involved so I laid off for a month and cleaned the bejesus out of it and was okay after.

I also have a friend (same midwife friend, actually) who came back from overseas with a parasite that weakened her immune system and resulted in chronic yeast infections. It took over a year to be diagnosed but once they figured it out the yeast infections abated.

I really hope you can figure it out soon!

_________________"I'd rather have dried catshit! I'd rather have astroturf! I'd rather have an igloo!"~Isa

"But really, anyone willing to dangle their baby in front of a crocodile is A-OK in my book."~SSD

eep, thanks! and haha yeah, i realised later that you meant taking the capsule vaginally.at 3am before bed i was like "fork this" and ran to shoppers drug mart and got a flucozanole pill. i wonder if i have picked up a parasite from somewhere. i haven't really been out of ontario/michigan in over a year but maybe i picked it up camping? hmm. thanks for the suggestions.

the doctor also told me that my partner could be reinfecting me, but i don't think this could be the case because i don't tend to get them after having sex. i thought it could be my cup, too, but this last infection came 2 weeks after my period...i wonder if i also have a parasite, i wonder where the fork i would have caught it, or if my immune system is suppressed. yeast infections are really the only illness i ever get; even when my boyfriend has a cold or something, i don't catch it. your stories about your midwife friend have given me hope, though, if it took over a year for her to be diagnosed maybe there is hope for meeee!

I tend to (used to) binge on massive quantities of sugar and then get yeasty, and I've been successfully using garlic ever since the famous thread. I have to stab the clove a bunch so it's nice and juicy, otherwise it doesn't work. Nowadays I just throw in a preemptive clove if I know I've been eating too many yummies. Have people who've been failed by garlic engaged in thorough clove juicing?

oh yeah, i stab the shiitake outta those cloves. i think this recent one had to do with sugar, too, because i'd bought a lot of candy form boyfriend's birthday party. and we just had the shitty garlic that comes in sleeves, rather than fresh, which i find works much better at yeasties. i've had some success with the garlic, but generally, it's not quite enough.

Yeah, I'll tell ya, for some reason for me too this year it has been yeast infection, BV, yeast infection, BV...so frustrating. And I continue to go back to my gyno who just prescribes me more meds. I think the whole problem started after being on antibiotics for a month and a half.

I WISH I could just go and pick up a fluconazole pill! Man Canada rocks. Here you have to keep going back to the doc to get one.

Will you keep us posted on whether or not that suppository works? I used to try the yogurt cure, which FELT like it was working for awhile, but then (I apologize for being nasty) some times yogurt would get stuck in my little lady crevices down there, DRY, and cause more pain. SO GROSS AND I'M SO SORRY.

Yeah, I'll tell ya, for some reason for me too this year it has been yeast infection, BV, yeast infection, BV...so frustrating. And I continue to go back to my gyno who just prescribes me more meds. I think the whole problem started after being on antibiotics for a month and a half.

I WISH I could just go and pick up a fluconazole pill! Man Canada rocks. Here you have to keep going back to the doc to get one.

Will you keep us posted on whether or not that suppository works? I used to try the yogurt cure, which FELT like it was working for awhile, but then (I apologize for being nasty) some times yogurt would get stuck in my little lady crevices down there, DRY, and cause more pain. SO GROSS AND I'M SO SORRY.

I got antibiotics once cuz a dog saw bacterial clue cells. Might have its true, but the itching wouldn't stop. After way too long another doc finally diagnosed me with lichen scerosus, which is autoimmune and treated with steroids (I've mostly stopped the steroids and done other natural things like aloe gel and some oil mix I've been messing around with because the steroid creams have their own downsides). Anyway, what I'm going after here is make sure they are really looking @ all the possibilities.

_________________Evolved a vascular system, so I went from bryophyte to lycophyte.

Yeah, I'll tell ya, for some reason for me too this year it has been yeast infection, BV, yeast infection, BV...so frustrating. And I continue to go back to my gyno who just prescribes me more meds. I think the whole problem started after being on antibiotics for a month and a half.

I WISH I could just go and pick up a fluconazole pill! Man Canada rocks. Here you have to keep going back to the doc to get one.

Will you keep us posted on whether or not that suppository works? I used to try the yogurt cure, which FELT like it was working for awhile, but then (I apologize for being nasty) some times yogurt would get stuck in my little lady crevices down there, DRY, and cause more pain. SO GROSS AND I'M SO SORRY.

I got antibiotics once cuz a dog saw bacterial clue cells. Might have its true, but the itching wouldn't stop. After way too long another doc finally diagnosed me with lichen scerosus, which is autoimmune and treated with steroids (I've mostly stopped the steroids and done other natural things like aloe gel and some oil mix I've been messing around with because the steroid creams have their own downsides). Anyway, what I'm going after here is make sure they are really looking @ all the possibilities.

Would you compare lichen scerosus to eczema at all? I've always thought I had the latter but I'm starting to wonder if it's actually the former...

_________________"I'd rather have dried catshit! I'd rather have astroturf! I'd rather have an igloo!"~Isa

"But really, anyone willing to dangle their baby in front of a crocodile is A-OK in my book."~SSD

Yeah, I'll tell ya, for some reason for me too this year it has been yeast infection, BV, yeast infection, BV...so frustrating. And I continue to go back to my gyno who just prescribes me more meds. I think the whole problem started after being on antibiotics for a month and a half.

I WISH I could just go and pick up a fluconazole pill! Man Canada rocks. Here you have to keep going back to the doc to get one.

Will you keep us posted on whether or not that suppository works? I used to try the yogurt cure, which FELT like it was working for awhile, but then (I apologize for being nasty) some times yogurt would get stuck in my little lady crevices down there, DRY, and cause more pain. SO GROSS AND I'M SO SORRY.

I got antibiotics once cuz a dog saw bacterial clue cells. Might have its true, but the itching wouldn't stop. After way too long another doc finally diagnosed me with lichen scerosus, which is autoimmune and treated with steroids (I've mostly stopped the steroids and done other natural things like aloe gel and some oil mix I've been messing around with because the steroid creams have their own downsides). Anyway, what I'm going after here is make sure they are really looking @ all the possibilities.

Would you compare lichen scerosus to eczema at all? I've always thought I had the latter but I'm starting to wonder if it's actually the former...

My first doc to diagnose said that it was basically eczema on your vulva, so yeah. When I've been looking for natural treatments I've sometimes perused the natural treatments for eczema as well, since the steriods help but they also do their own damage at the same time. They stop the itchy and lichen forming but then they thin the skin so you can get f-ed up that way. I've been using an oil mix that I'm working on perfecting and then applying a cooling aloe afterward, like a natural brand sunburn mix.

Also, it was a Doc, not a dog that saw my cooch. Well, actually, dogs are pretty nosy, right? But I'm wearing pants in general.

_________________Evolved a vascular system, so I went from bryophyte to lycophyte.

hi everybodyyyyy. i gave up on the suppository after taking the flucozanole pill. i kind of felt that it was making it worse actually, because ~ get ready for TMI~~~ but when i was using garlic the first couple days (before buying suppositories), the yeast pieces were really small. but after i starting taking the probiotic suppository, the yeast seemed to get clumpy and bigger and i was having a LOT of discharge...all day..not just in the mornign like when i take garlic out. and the infection wasn't getting better, even after 4 nights of taking the suppository.

i know the medication had a course of 10 nights, but i couldn't stand it any longer.